passive solar

i just finished reading this excellent book on passive solar design by james kachadorian, the passive solar house, published by chelsea green, the excellent sustainable living publishers located right here in white river junction. in clear language and through excellent examples this book shows how anyone can use the sun's energy to reduce the amount of fuel needed to keep a house warm--even in the northeast--by about 65% using no active components (no moving parts). the system he describes uses cinder blocks laid on their sides and covered with a slab of concrete as a "battery" that charges with during the day with heat and discharges that heat at night through passive circulation (thermocycling) the house's air through it. the book includes worksheets and all the tables you would need to formulate a specific design, though some of it might be daunting for folks unaccustomed to using a calculator. i found it interesting that the problem with many passive solar houses is there are too many windows! this overheats the house and overcools it at night. my parent's house is a good example of this. so, by balancing just the right number and size of windows with the right exposures and sufficient mass and airflow through the "battery" this system can maintain a very even temperature in a house year round.